Getting out of the city

We were up and out of the house by 9am this morning on our way to Taman Negara National Park about a 3 hour drive from KL. This park is the biggest and contains most well preserved rainforest in Malaysia.

The drive was relatively easy with the help of the GPS. As we got further away from KL there was more to see. The roads led us up into the highlands near Genting and over the other side of the ridge parallel to the east coast of the peninsula. We cut inland and headed west through palm oil plantations, rainforest and hundreds of little kampungs (villages). In one village we managed to place ourselves in the middle of a funeral procession. We wondered why we were traveling so slowly until we saw the van up the front with the coffin inside!

Monkeys, cows, goats, wild boars, chickens and cats could be seen alongside and often on the road. They were harvesting the bunches of palm nuts in many of the plantations we passed so the road was full of trucks carrying them towards the city. We also passed numerous logging trucks with massive trunks on the back - not good to see.

The further we went, the smaller and narrower the roads became. We ended up on a narrow little village lane which led us to Kuala Tahan, the small village across the river from the entrance to the National Park.

We had some lunch in the car before heading down to the river to catch a small boat across the fast flowing Pahang River. On the otherside we found ourselves at the entrance to the park and also in the resort where you can stay. After registering with the informatioin center and getting ourselves a map, we headed off.

Our first place to visit was the canopy walk. Unlike the walk at FRIM, this was the longest canopy walk in Malaysia at 450m and 50m above the ground. The tracks weren't well sign posted and I think we took a couple of wrong turns but we did find the start of the canopy walk after a while. On the way we saw plenty of lizards, butterflies and a massive spider (a bit like a golden orb spider I used to see in outback WA).

We paid our 5RM each and headed up the ladder to the canopy walk. Just like FRIM, the walk was made out of ladder lashed together with a plank of wood on top. The walk gave us great views of the river and also of the landscape around the park. In some spots, ladders were angled upwards as the walk was set on the side of a hill so we had to keep climbing up to stay in the canopy. It was the best canopy walk that Ross and I have been on and fairly challenging as well.

At the end we had a bit of a break to suck down some water and eat some nuts and fruit. It was incredibly hot and humid (suprisingly - not!) in the rainforest. From there, we headed up hill to climb to the top of one of the peaks in the park - Bukit Teresek at 344m. It doesn't sound that high but it was an almost vertical climb up to the top. Ross and I were completely knackered by the time we reached the first viewing point.

From there Ross made the decision to continue on the path rather than to walk back the way we came to meet up with the track back to the entrance. This decision meant that we walked for another 3 hours before getting back to the park entrance! At the time it was exhausting as the tracks are not cleared well and you have to traverse many small hills and valleys. However, it was amazing to walk through this rainforest and just hear the birds and insects.

It seemed that the map we had may have underestimated the distances or we took a few wrong turns because the 1km track that we wanted to take ended up taking us 3 hours. Towards the end, we passed some swimming holes where you can swim in the river and also the closest camp site to the entrance. We had actually come to the park to look at the camping facilities. They were pretty basic but definitely doable.

Once we got back to the park entrance we headed straight to the bar for water and a cold beer. We had only walked a small area of the park (less that 10km radius). There are many more rivers and campsites that can be accessed by boat or trekking. We thought it would be a great place to come for a weekend and you can also fish the rivers (which would make our friend Brian happy).

It was about 5pm when we got back to the car and headed home. We made pretty good time on the way back and were in civilisation again before it got dark. After our excertion today, we felt justified in calling into McDonald's for a Big Mac meal while filling up the car. Our bodies were craving salt and grease :-).

We got home, spent an hour in the shower, and tumbled into bed. We watched the AFL game for a while before being overcome with sleep.

An interesting and exhausting day!